Whilst the Work Experience scheme is officially ‘voluntary’ claimants who refuse to work for free at the DWP can face being sent on a mandatory workfare scheme instead. George Osborne even recently announced that this was to become the policy for people between 18 and 21 – who will in future be sentenced to up to 780 hours forced work if they turn down an unpaid Work Experience position.

As well as no wage, young people on the Work Experience scheme have no working rights. If they are sacked for gross misconduct they face benefits being sanctioned. Gross misconduct under these terms could potentially include refusing to cross a picket line.

Some unions, such as the BFAWU, have recognised the very real dangers to all workers from workfare of any kind. Sadly the PCS, the union for DWP workers, has remained silent whilst this grotesque exploitation has taken place. PCS members have already instructed their union to take tougher action on benefit sanctions and yet nothing appears to have happened. Perhaps it’s time for PCS members who care about their jobs and working conditions to bypass their tame union leadership and take matters into their own hands.

This is what happens when we let the middle class “manage things for us”. The Union leadership are the same bunch of spineless, careerist gobshites as the rest of them. They could get a job with the DWP tomorrow and not have to change a single attitude: their career first.

As working people, we HAVE to take back our own institutions or create new ones and never, ever allow the middle class near them again. They’re our historical enemy. Time and again, the middle class have betrayed and hijacked ordinary working people’s hopes and dreams of a fair society.

The PCS are to be treated very warily,locally they are as bad as the government when treating unemployed/disabled with hate.when the sanctions to jobsearch can’t be applied,much more sinister tactics begin to emerge.

Ms McVey will be meeting with a range of companies, including M&S, the BBC, and Barclays along with young people who have been through training and apprenticeships to discuss more innovative joint approaches to training, hiring and keeping on more young jobseekers.
Welfare Reform Minister Lord Freud will also discuss with employers how the new Universal Credit will make it easier for employees to work more hours once they are in a job.

Why are these cunts so obsessed with fucking work ..when none of them woyldnt know a job if it landed on them

She will be got rid of once her purpose is no longer required.
She has fell for crapalist
while making a couple of bob on the way,
Just a note: can we refrain from swearing on this site, its starting to sound like a chubby brown or a bernard manning concert.
Heaven fore bid.
Try and follow all religious teachings, be pure in thought and actions and the world will be a better place for sea gulls.

@Ron don’t get me started on religion
I have had up to here with religious zealots telling me I will go to hell because I don’t believe in their stuff and I am nothing without bjesub
Or I must not question I must believe
…my favourite so far is : ” why can’t
atheists quit moaning and believe any way “….

I like ‘you should give your life to jesus’. No matter what good deeds you do it counts for nothing unless you are christian? And you can’t believe on tap. I don’t believe in God, and am too sane to ‘make myself believe’.

Monday: Pray to God for a job. Result: no job.
Tuesday: Pray to Krishna for a job. Result: no job.
Wednesday: Pray to Odin for a job. Result: no job.
Thursday: Pray to Shango for a job. Result: no job.
Friday: Pray to Kuan-Yin for a job. Result: no job.
Saturday: Pray to the Big Orange Flying Teapot for a job.
Sunday: zzzzzzzzzz

“Whilst the Work Experience scheme is officially ‘voluntary’ claimants who refuse to work for free at the DWP can face being sent on a mandatory workfare scheme instead.” too fucking right… and if you don’t continue to ‘volunteer’ after the MWA ‘placement’ ends the cunts send you on more fucking mandatory work!

Workfare is a national disgrace. What sort of union is this PCS when they condone unpaid labour? Yes I remember reading about the BFAWU supporting their members in Wigan and winning the battle. It’s a shame not all unions have the same high standards as the bakers union.

“gross misconduct” = being 2 minutes late once – back to the jobcentre for a sanction. and on mwa its 13 weeks for a first ‘offence’, 26 weeks for a second, and 156 weeks (3 YEARS!) for a third offence!

The purpose of Mandatory Work Activity is to “help you develop the work-related skills and disciplines to improve your chances of getting and keeping a job”. If you are too lazy to even bother to turn up for your placement you DESERVE to lose your benefits. Don’t expect any sympathy from Jobcentre Plus!

JC Adviser, well going by that, don’t expect any sympathy, when you’ve all lost your jobs & have been replaced by unpaid “volunteer” slaves & you’re sitting on the other side of the desk. It’ll give you plenty of time to reflect on the sanctions regime you were party to, such as the race to win a bloody easter egg for the number of victims you could sanction. It’ll serve you all fucking right when the words “scrounger” “dole scum” & “workshy” are hurled with all the venom that IDS & rest of his henchmen can muster in your direction.
Karma can be a bitch!

Cause if we did we would be making the required effort in the job you tell us we have to do in our workfare. We will sanction you and take your kids, your house, your last tin of baked beans.
We will be better at your job than you. You coached us so well.

When you are living under a bridge we will drag you in every day then sanction you for being late and for making yourself unemployable by being homeless, dirty, unwashed, smelly and for catching a cold.
We will sanction your partners, broadcast your medical information across the room, and put you on an ‘unfit to reproduce’ list. If we want we’ll have you sterilised.

The thing is, you had said you’d sanction us if we appeared unenthusiastic.

I already had the skills of working with people with autism – an eleven year medicinally induced illness prevented me from working for as many years.
I finally recovered from the illness then the brutal medication reduction withdrawal in Summer 2012, it took me until December 2013 to find paid employment, 13 hours that is. This was due to my own determination and seeking voluntary work specifying my skills – The DWP /JCP (after my asking for their assistance to get me back into my specialised area) sent me on courses such as Basic Computer skills, Maths, English, Employability and `CV writing` (the last two coincided with my voluntary work) and of course did absolutely nothing for my CV concerning work related skills – The CV writing course basically had me update that I was working voluntary .

There was also a 3 point towards a 9 point NVQ 2 in healthcare course, which really is pointless considering most of it consists of `being in work related` theory. As for the other 6 points? You have to work in the field of care to complete….. And, nope, it is not specialising in autism nor special needs of any kind.

Being put on the work program summer 2013 – I again asked for assistance more local regarding my specialised area because I travel an hr each way and guess what?…. Sod all came of that. The Work Program was basically sitting for two hrs job searching in front of people who signed me in and out.

If the purpose of mandatory work activity was to help people then so would the entire system be. There would be genuine areas of work that people who are willing to learn or get back into as a means to come off of benefits in the long term, this would include fields of work of all kinds – as it stands free labour to benefit big and rich companies and employers is not helping anyone stuck in the rut of benefits.

I should add here, that care work positions, regardless of area or field of care, nowadays demand at least 6 months experience within the last 3 years.
If The work related activity system was indeed an intent to assist the everyone then why is it not including such areas of needs as a meas to assist people successfully?.

No one who wants to get back into or learn more about care work will be fighting the work experience if was applied to them properly and with a beneficial purpose….
I can only believe all areas of employment would be met with the same attitude and even gratitude if applied properly (non forced and at least 6 months experience needed) and with a beneficial purpose (skills / certificates of worth) that will enable a paid employment position.

As it stands, a few weeks stacking shelves or standing at a till does not produce any beneficial purpose of skills or paid employment possibility

What a load of fuckin shite. When you find yourself on the other side of the desk then and only then that stinkin attitude of yours wil most definately change. JC Advisers are little fuckin hitlers on a power trip. Wake up ya tube your only a pleb just like the rest of us!

Organized Pseudo Law FORM, is an organized network of entities, decrees, codes and procedures designed to appear as if a legitimate law FORM but which is inherently false, corrupt and contradictory to the precepts of law by which all civilized societies have functioned from the beginning of history. Hence, Organized Pseudo Law FORM is not real, VALID or legitimate law whatsoever, but dictates and actions primarily supported by force, fear and cultural-political manipulation.

…..SIMPLY PUT, THE P.C.S., THE UNION THAT EXISTS WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT FOR WORKS AND PENSIONS, HAS LESS BACKBONE THAN A JELLYFISH………………..

THE PUBLIC AND SERVICES UNION, ARE MERE PUPPETS OF A TWISTED, HEINOUS STRATEGY THAT IS KILLING INNOCENT VICTIMS, BY THE THOUSANDS.

IT’S A BIT LATE FOR THEM TO BE SHOWING SLIGHT CONCERN FOR THE ROCKETING NUMBERS DISAPPEARING FROM OUR STREETS BY EXPOSING DWP GOVERNMENT TARGETS, FOR WHAT WE ARE WITNESSING IS A STATE SPONSORED KILLING MACHINE.

EACH AND EVERY MEMBER OF THIS UNION HAS TAKEN PART IN A CULL OF THE POOREST AND WEAKEST.

IT’S NO GOOD BEING PART OF A UNION JUST TO ACT AS ONE AND NEGOTIATE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR YOUR MEMBERS, YOU ALSO HAVE A MORAL AND ETHICAL DUTY TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC WHO PAY YOUR WAGES……………

MORE AND MORE DOCUMENTATION IS COMING INTO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN ABOUT THE WAR OF ATTRITION STAGED AGAINST THE VULNERABLE.

THE CONDITIONS OF YOUR EMPLOYMENT SEEM TO BE, LIE ,CHEAT AND STEAL AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY………

COULD YOU HONESTLY FACE THE FAMILIES OF THOSE WHO HAVE LOST ONE, AS A DIRECT RESULT OF A MISGUIDED SANCTION?

I DOUBT IT!

MORTALITY RATES ARE BEING WITHHELD. THE MORTALITY RATES ARE A TRUE GRAPH OF THE EXTENT OF BLOOD ON YOUR UNIONS HANDS…………..

RUNNING SHY AND CLAIMING YOU WERE ONLY FOLLOWING ORDERS WAS THROWBACK FROM THE NAZI’S, DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE THIS ONSLAUGHT OF INNOCENT VICTIMS?

I THINK NOT……….

TARGETS HAVE NO PLACE WHEN ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF A HUMAN BEINGS EXISTENCE, IT IS THE WORK OF A CORRUPT SOCIETY.
THE STRENGTH OF A PEOPLE IS MEASURED BY HOW IT TREATS ITS WEAKEST, NOT THE EVIL DEALT ON THOSE WITH THE LEAST RESOLVE.

THE P.C.S. HAS MENTIONED THAT ITS MEMBERS HAVE BEEN USING TARGETS TO SANCTION PEOPLE ON JOB SEEKERS ALLOWANCE, YET NO MENTION OF THE SANCTION AGAINST THE DISABLED WITH BOTH PHYSICAL AND MENTAL PROBLEMS?

I can understand what you mean. This union is total crap and does not care about its members, only themselves. The members should demand a vote of confidence in the leaders of their union and on the way the union have behaved!

Geoff, I suffer with headaches and would love for you to put comments in lower capital letters – it really does make it difficult to read. Thanks so much.
Jay

comfortable,i think they actually enjoy it,more powers than a magistrate or copper,in order to arrest you they have to have evidence suspicion motive tec..these f@ckers can fine you or give you community service “cause they feel like it”

I told them they would do this.. but i was called a fool, but the more people who are “volunteers” in the inaccurate use of the word means less people employed by the dwp, which means more savings from the dwp budget.. which means more people replaced.. I said this to the pcs union..

Ian Mearns: It has come to my attention through research conducted by several disability campaign groups that as many as four people a day are dying within six weeks of being declared fit for work under the Department’s work capability assessment. Will the Secretary of State reflect on those figures? When he finds them to be true, as they are based on his Department’s data, will he come back to the House and apologise to the families of the deceased, who suffered unnecessarily in their last precious days? We can recuperate benefits that are awarded incorrectly, but we cannot recuperate a person’s life.

The PCS were leafleting jobseekers at my jobcentre for support. I’m happy to give support but wouuld expect some in return.

This toxic government are all about establishment and securinng the wealth for their own. Everyone whatever circumstances needs to get on the electoral register and crawl if necessary to the polling station to kick these evil bastards out of office. Don’t just sit at home or you might get them again —think about it! Get your and everyone you knows butt to the vote these scum sucking filth out.

…………….if everyone said, “fuck it”, we are not paying for the tv licence, the BBC WOULD BE SHAFTED AND THE GOVERNMENTS GOBSHITES WOULD BE SILENCED, ONCE AND FOR ALL……….

THEY CAN’T PROSECUTE EVERYBODY.

THE BBC IS FUNDED BY THE LICENCE PAYER, THE LEAST WE EXPECT IS THE TRUTH, NOT THE OPINIONS OF NANNY STATE PUPPETS WHO REWRITE THE NEWS TO ACHIEVE POLITICAL ENDS………………….

PLEASE DON’T FORGET;

THEY HAVE JUST WASTED £100 MILLION OF YOUR HARD EARNED FEES ON A DIGITAL PROJECT THAT CRASHED.

COUPLE THAT WITH A FORTUNE IN GOLDEN HANDSHAKES FOR AN INEPT, HAND IN GLOVE HEIRARCHY RULED OVER BY THE FORMER GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG, PISSPOT PATTEN,THE TRUE BLUE TOILET RAG, AND YOU HAVE A GOOD REASON TO REFUSE TO PAY…………..

SACK THEM, GIVE THEM THE BOOT, THEY ARE NOT LIVING UP TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS………………

I totally agree George. The problem is, people stayed away from the last election, which is how this coalition was able to sneak in through the back door, and I don’t know if they will actually vote at the next election.
People don’t realise that we could end up with an even worse coalition than we have now – tory and ukip!!! That would totally screw this country up and would be the final nail in the coffin as ukip are tories! Cameron is already snuggling up to them as he knows for certain that the tories won’t get in on their own!
That’s if we even get an election – this coalition believe that they can do anything, that they are above the law and anything else. They don’t care that they are supposed to be public servants – they think they actually rule the country! There is a huge reason for these orders on water cannons – so something big is going to happen…

Geoff, i have not gained a clue of what part of this great country! you live in , I will give you a clue where I live.
I live between the scotts border and yorkshire, ie the north east coast.
And let me assure you, people are really hurting up here
specifically the up and coming youth, but the youth still pay respect to the elderly , the disabled and the middle aged unless you have attitude problem towards youth, which means you have forget what it felt like to be young .
I have kids with an attitude problem holding doors open for me.
From a 59 year old .

A man who walked the streets with a placard to advertise himself for work had his benefits axed because Jobcentre staff said he was not “actively” looking for employment.

Paul Hyde, 52, made a sign saying “All I want a 4 Christmas is a job” alongside his telephone number after he lost lost his job as a painter and decorator last summer, but according to rules he should have been handing out his CV.

The father-of-five from Wolverhampton in the West Midlands was called by Jobcentre Plus to inform him he could not claim £59.50 per week in Jobseekers Allowance because his method of seeking employment was deemed “inappropriate”.

Mr Hyde, who was made redundant from his last permanent job at a bolting and pipeline manufacturer in 2011, said the decision left him penniless and dependant on food and clothes banks to get by.

“I really want to work, it’s not like I’ve been sitting on my backside doing nothing,” he said.

@wibblywobbly in actual fact Devereux is IDS rival as it seems Drunken Spliff keeps briefing against him..in fact Smiffy was using him as the fall guy for the UC fiasco.
Something Mr Devereux was not to happy about and was mighty pissed off.

@wibblywobbly since this bunch of psychos don’t give a toss about what we think and only their own position its worth noting the political games they play especially with rivals ..
Sad we can all rot and die..the only thing that affects them is their precious position in the govt ..

I think it is also worth stressing again the importance of the RMT tube fare strike ( http://handsofflondontransport.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/freetube-holt-supports-unions-revenue-action/ ) as an example for PCS members/DWP workers. Last time rank-and-file PCS members suggested that the union should refuse to co-operate with sanctions, the union refused to discuss it because they said it could get them in trouble if they told members not to carry out part of their jobs. Now the RMT are doing exactly that. The question needs to be asked: if tube workers can refuse to collect fares, why can’t DWP workers refuse to issue sanctions?

Yep, weren’t my fault guv, I were jus’ obeyin’ orders, honest guv! They says turn the gas taps, so I turns the gas taps – but if yer really thinks about it, it really it weren’t really me turnin’ them gas taps. It were the ones who ordered me to turn the gas taps’ fault weren’t it? – so blame them ones insted guv. They’re the murderers guv, no me guv. I were jus’ doin’ what I were told, small cog in a big machine, that’s me guv..

Yes, and where those rules and regulations are enforced is where they have the power to be broken. Now, if it’s been approved by a ballot and is part of a legitimate industrial dispute, do trade unions have the power to instruct their members not to carry out certain duties (such as the RMT instructing revenue staff not to carry out revenue duties on the tube) or don’t they?

Thinking about it, it really bothers me what a weasely, dishonet reply this was. Pointing out that PCS members do not set government policy would be a great reply to someone claiming that PCS members set government policy. It’s completely useless as a reply to someone pointing out that RMT members have been selectively refusing to carry out certain duties as part of an industrial dispute and asking why DWP staff can’t do the same thing.

Bob, they`ve done it with the education system already, All the way to `year eleven` (eleventh grade).
Kids `graduate` from pre school now too – In our day it was 1st year to fourth year and leaving pre school etc

Does anyone know what these ‘volunter’s’ are doing within the Job centres?
If you want to protect yourself join the community arm of unite ,no point in going on about it …Do something positive!
Why haven’t we heard from these volunters if they didn’t want to volunter and were made to? These people must want to do that sort of thing other wise they would f*** it up!
You have to do what you have to do!

Have you heard about a computer virus which fills your internet history with hundreds of pornographic websites, then plants a folder somewhere on your hard drive containing over 5Gb of carefully-catalogued explicit images and videos?

If you have, please could you tell my wife that one definitely exists?

They are brown-shirts, Geoff (its the same old techniques Hitler used over and over again). I have been referred for sanctions by some girl who I am sure was still in her nappies and some cunt that hadn’t started shaving yet referred me to MWA. Same with the work programme shit, most of of staff are female, most of the staff are in their 20s, and most of the staff have useless shit ‘psychology’ degrees. They all think they are smart-arses, they think they know everything but they have fuck all life or work experience. They can’t see that they are being used by evil forces a lot smarter than they think they are. They think that they are like the children on the hill – they will never get any older. But there time will come, it will be THEIR turn to be fucked over by the next generation of brownshirts, I wouldn’t worry about it, Geoff!

I`ve hated `behaviourism` for a long time – There is no science to it and basically expresses people are robots who can be trained to be anything the superior wants them to be from slaves to assassins- no surprise Cameron loves it then.

The most well known behaviourist B.F Skinner was to have two kids whom he imposed all of his sadistic beliefs and experiments upon – Fact: They both topped themselves.

It seems that I am one of very few who actually enjoyed their MWA experience (through Seetec London). I actually stayed an other couple of months afterwards to volunteer. So, in my case it actually looks good on my CV; I tried to make the most of my placement and got myself a good position there during the placement. It was interesting dealing with the many different people who were also sent there through Seetec and many of those people had a negative attitude from the start towards the MWA, but many of them also found out that it wasn’t too bad at the place where we had our placement and some also enjoyed the experience. I even got a couple of certificates through the MWA. So, not too bad in my case. It depends on the provider and your attitude, I guess.

maris
“It depends on the provider and your attitude, I guess.” it also depends if it helps to get decent employment, for the masses…and it definitely does not..it has been proven time and time again to be worse than useless..i know they say, lets do what don’t work some more…
people want decent paid work, not no wage experiences…people gain attitudes from their experiences…neg, pos, or neutral…..PMA is crap….

g fawkes
the purpose of the lords should be to scrutinise parliament, and ensure legislation is correctly drafted, valid, and inject common sense into the proceedings…the lords should not be directly involved in the party politics of parliament, as they are now….

Exactly. The only thing I got was a Mickey Mouse ‘certificate’ printed on the cheapest, thinnest, copier paper available, simply saying that I had completed Mandatory Work Activity. I wouldn’t even wipe my arse with it.

In fact do away with voluntary all together
And force ppl onto workfare plus ‘ ovwrtime with no days off and If taken sick get automatically sanctioned
Oh and cut benefits too as they are way too high ..
Gee thanks maris…you went to all that trouble to persuade us MWA is good and you failed …
I wonder why ?

@jester. Well thats obvious .if thats the case then wtf are they doing on here of all places ..do they really think we are dumb enough to believe that crap ?
You get the usual ” lazy bastard
thicko trolls but this shit is ttaking the piss..
Comes to something if the DWP are showing up here .what’s next are us lot on here going to be put on some secret file or already on one ?

Its a new spin, Bob the old stick approach: “you are all a bunch of lazy bastards, it would do you good to work for nowt.” approach obviously wasn’t working. Now the DWP Social Media Team have retreated, re-grouped, had a re-think and came back with the carrot approach: “Well, I for one had a jolly spiffing good time on my fantastic mandatory work activity placement.”

Hey Maris, recently, I was on a 2 week course with Seetec in order to develope my employment skills. This consisted of making chairs out of balloons, making shoes out of paper cups and tissues and naming as many songs with the word ‘rain in it. Seetec= IDIOTS, Maris= NUMSKULL

Well maybe it would train you for a job at a creche! Hey kids, let’s do colouring-in! However creches will be inundated with applications and will probably pick, if they are going for skill, somebody with a degree in childcare and the right licences and practical paid work history in it. A dodgy outfit might want a 16 year old they can pay the least money to, and by doing the course in ‘how to make stuff to amuse under-twos’ you have just rendered yourself highly overqualified. Or would they prefer to hire an alcoholic tramp or a paedophile?

Hear, hear Maris. One doesn’t see why this lot keep slagging off mandatory work activity. The placement Working Links (and by the way Working Links is an absolutely fantastic company) sourced for us was absolutely fantastic. We all had a jolly spiffing good time. It all just depends on your attitude – you get out what you put into it. Just roll up your sleeves, muck in and do your best.

beatrice
just roll up yer sleeves and get a job then?…oh, there aren’t any…i see, so the next best thing is to go on a jolly and pretend, aright for some, eh! their finding employment % are worse than if they did not exist..brains are used to predict the future likely hood of employment/ food and other vitals within a system/scheme, most brains predict MWA provides none, is draining, time wasting, and that they would be better off under their own steam, all the evidence in fact confirms this…

Beatrice working links is a bag of piss, they never gave me any help and for the last 7 months of my sentence with them i never spoke to or saw an (ahem) adviser once. recieved an e-mail asking me to come in for an exit interview. Cheeky bastards! Now away and fling shite at yourself please!!!

63% of welfare payments go to pensioners and those in work…15% to the sick and disabled. 18% to families…2.6% to the unemployed…http://www.leftfootforward.org/2014/01/what-a-real-benefits-street-would-look-like/ many millions are unemployed…yet the amount of available decent living wage full time work is tiny….a hefty proportion of people in the uk cannot afford to consume goods and services at the rates required to create millions of decent full time jobs, within the uk economy…supply of goods, services, outstrip demand, and the abilities of many to be able to afford them…we simply don’t live in a labour intensive jobs world in the uk/europe, no more….the use of people as “stock” to provide no wage labour/cheap labour is barbaric, and cannot create much needed jobs in the uk…housing cost inflation must be a key issue, but there are few “elected” politicians discussing this? no economy can be balanced, unless the costs of all human vitals are on the agenda…it is impossible for the many to aspire to owning a home, or finding affordable and decent rented accommodation…the automated mass production of goods is destroying our lives, our planet, and i am no luddite..we need a decent citizens income, ie a no strings welfare benefits system and a drastic reduction in housing costs….our economy, the human psyche, being, our bio-sphere, simply cannot afford to go on providing lavish life styles for the few…the age of extravagant consumerism, of, for some, must be resisted, as it destroys lives of the many..

i dunno, if the people in the DWP are on workfare, surely they could help make some sanction paperwork go astray, prevent some work programme referrals from reaching their destinations, or create some kind of flammable accident?

Wasn’t nudge a key on arcade machines? And on the ones that push shelves of copper coins towards the edge? Except the coins never fall off the edge when you are playing, or they are not worth anything if they do. It’s designed not to pay players more than they put in, or the business would lose money. And that decribes the benefits system quite well. The trickledown effect. [Osborne undoing flies]

Seems the DWP have resorted to trolling the void lol. valuable work experience for my CV where have I heard that before, valuable for Asda or marks and spencers they pay you nothing, and your next employeer as well because they also joined the free slaves labour train, all aboard next stop no paid jobs for anyone step right up step right up

@rebel who needs money if you are a worthless individual and contribute nothing ..so just end your miserable life and save tax payers money …before long all these suicides claimants will be admired for ” doing the right thing ” ” its the only decent thing they ever did “…
Nothing would fucking shock or surprise me any more ..weve reached several lows already..

Bob, who needs money really? As long as you have your mates, family and the good old British spirit (make do with what we have) the dirty filthy Tory Party will lose the battle one day. In the meantime, keep taking the pills and fighting the good fight. Be lucky!!!

May have forgotten Bernadette, some little minor things like food, rent, clothes, travel…. bills. The British spirit in many places is to kick someone when they’re down and nick their wallet…
No good if you have no family and your mates are all as skint as you.
Most days beggars (who have more money than I do) are demanding money. I don’t have any, and if I had any need it for eating.

@Something Survived, Thanks for making me think about ‘my lot’.
Its fair to say, that, I am on the edge, but I do have a few family and friends to share my burden. My rent is being paid by the taxpayer !!! Thats keeps me from being on the streets (at the moment).
If I could take anyone under my wing, I will do, when times become better. Ever the optimist.

@bobchewie,
Bob I never meant to say YOU was on ‘pills’ I was just talking hypothetically.
You know the score.
As for family, I thought WE are all family on the JV website?
Sorry for any inconveniences
Bernadette

Important to win the language war. Avoid, where possible, the use of Jobseekers Allowance and Welfare (now a negative ..ism according to the Daily Mail..sounds like socialism!)
.Those of us who are out of work are Unemployed Men & Women. And anyone who needs state assistance requires that almost forgotten phrase: Social Security!

“Even before the new measures take effect, we know through leaked internal memos from the Department of Work and Pensions that Job Centre staff are being required to ‘sanction’ as many claimants as possible and try and trip them up at ‘botherability’ interviews. As always, this despicable tactic will mostly catch the scared and vulnerable, rather than the undeserving malingerers.*** As one staff member puts it, suicides will result***indeed just as we’ve seen with the infamous Atos capability tests designed to throw as many people off Disability Living allowance as possible.”

OFF TOPIC
IDS ends the pre-1996 bedroom tax exemption
“In accordance with section 176(1) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992, the Secretary of State has consulted with organisations appearing to him to be representative of the authorities concerned.”
what a load of bullshit, no consultation has been done, he is a fucking liar.http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/212/made

Sorry for posting this guys but since this death toll with claimants keeps coming up with regard to Atos and sanctions i am trying to find out what DWP and JCP already know or were warned about since they seem to avoid answering any requests on the subject ..
Ok re Atos. Their seems to be this thing called 6 point plan of which I have posted DWP reply to FOI request ..also it seems JCP staff and bosses warned about deaths as did CPAG child action poverty group in consultation exercise over PIP assessments with DWP…begging the question why DWP so reluctant to respond to requests about the matter..

I have completed four work placements over the years lasting up to five weeks at a time and none of them had an offer of a job but all gave references. Although it might be better to take a placement in a cosy office than do community work picking up litter wearing a luminous jacket and that might how I will end up this summer.

I just attended a post-WP group session today at my local JC – and to my shock they have offered me (scratch that, -told- me) that I am due to start a work placement soon that has been set up by them.

And where is this placement? a local Tesco? perhaps even a charity shop?…why of course not – it’s working for the actual Jobcentre itself.

This is a complete and utter mindfuck, being someone who regularly visits this site and agrees with most of the anti-Jobcentre workfare type articles to now find myself sitting on the other opposite of the signing-on table being in effect, on their side.

I mean out of all the businesses nearby or potential retail shops etc, why the Jobcentre itself? I have no idea how I’m really supposed to act if made to deal with “clients” etc, as I’m most likely going to find myself sympathizing with them all and refusing to do anything that may cause undeserving people sanctions having been in their own situation for the past 5 years odd now.

On the plus side, it will be -very- interesting to see if it’s possible to actually look into my own records that they hold and even report back here with information about future schemes or programmes that are being planned.

Sanction nobody unless they are ex-JCP staff. Approve benefits even in obvious fake claims. Change numbers of dependents to extra, invent fictional claimants. Call names to the desk like ‘mickey mouse?’ or ‘Ian duncan smith?’ Film your ‘colleagues’. Throw away or intercept all sanction paperwork. Use their phones to call up expensive chatlines.
pour stuff in the computers. just some ideas

DA – I wouldn’t look anything up on their systems that you are not ‘authorised’ to do – very dodgy, it’s all audited and could get you in a LOT of trouble. It’s like what the Nazis did – they gave a row of prisoners a hammer and each one was forced to smash the other’s skull in – but, then again the Jobcentre IS all-but-in-name a Nazi organisation.

“may cause undeserving people sanctions jeez, DA you haven’t even flicked open the “advisers’ toolkit to issuing a sanction that will stick” and you are already talking about deserving/[undeserving]. No jobseeker deserves a sanction – NO IFS! – NO BUTS!

@DA, I have been signing on for so long it hurts.
Recently, and as a Joke, I said to my ‘advisor’, ‘Given that I am part and parcel of the fixtures and fittings, why don’t you give me a job here’.
Without a blink of an eye she passed me a form and said ‘Here you are’.
I filled in the form and guess what? No word, no sound and no work placement. I guess, that, they don’t want an old fuddy duddy like me upsetting the apple cart. But good luck to you my friend, they will soon have you institutionalised just like THEM!!!

Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reform plan is costing £225,000 per person to implement, according to new figures, which prompted the Labour party to accuse the government of wasting money on a “staggering” scale.

In the latest blow to the universal credit scheme, which has fallen behind schedule and will not be fully implemented until halfway through the next parliament, the figures show that £612m has been spent on introducing the new system since 2010.

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